Shah Trading Company is one of Canada’s oldest specialty foods distributors. The company which was founded in 1974, in the garage of Praful Shah’s house has grown steadily over the past 37 years to an import-export powerhouse with over 400,000 square feet of warehousing and a network of clients and suppliers spanning the globe. The company is still controlled by 3 original founding brothers and 3 of their second-generation children.

Early immigrants of East Indian origin, the brothers saw an opportunity to bring their traditional food ingredients to Canada. The country was just beginning to expand their immigration policy and there was a lack of some basic foods for new arrivals. Once they had established steady imports from UK (which had a much larger, established immigrant community) they quickly realized that staples like rice and beans were basic to many ethnic groups besides their own Indian community.

“Rice, beans, spices and nuts are essential ingredients for Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, South American, Caribbean, African and European communities”, says Kamal Shah VP Business Development. “My father and uncles quickly realized the potential was enormous”.

Today, the company has facilities in Montreal and Toronto, and distributes their goods throughout Canada and the USA. They sell through various channels including bulk wholesale, national supermarkets, independent stores, food service distributors and manufacturers. They are leading private label packers and sell under their own brands including Nupak, Dunya, Freshnut and All Seasons. Product lines include rice, pulses, nuts and spices and many specialty imported products. They have recently developed a strong export business servicing customers throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America.

WORDWIDE NETWORK

“We import from over 60 countries and have active sales in over 30”, says Shah. “We have been dealing with some of our partners for 25 years. There is a big difference between dealing with an anonymous company overseas to dealing with a trusted well-controlled.”

“We’re right in the middle of a big project for bean processing,” he says. “Canada is the largest supplier of beans and lentils in the world. We decided to take advantage of this position and set up our own processing plant so we can deal directly with plant.”

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

“We have a very flat hierarchy when it comes to our management team, Shah says. “Our doors are always open so no employee has to worry about coming up to us to talk. And by sharing an office with family, it also helps with our open line of them.” During high-business periods, the company also brings on seasonal hires and encourages employees to bring in their family members for part-time work. “The family aspect in our company goes outside of just being a family business,” he says. “From clients, suppliers and employees – nothing is possible without having good relationships first”.